A spot of gardening leave

Illustration: Peter Nicholson.

Do not read too much into it, we have been told.

Yes, ANZ’s cutting-edge head of communications Paul Edwards has just begun a three-week holiday.

But no, it is not linked to any settlement with Angus Aitken, the former employee at frequent-flyer Colin Bell’s brokerage Bell Potter.

Any apology from Edwards is apparently still some time away. The latest from Fort Docklands is that Bebo has replaced Periscope as Edwards’ preferred social media apology vehicle.

We’re told the vacation has been in the ANZ corporate diary for over a year.

So, could Edwards bump his inflatable pool toy into Aitken, who is now in the second of three weeks eating overpriced mung beans at a retreat in Bali after his happy settlement with Colin’s shop?

Or has Edwards returned to Soho House Instanbul, the scene of his 2015 weekender with a fellow target of defamation lawyer Mark O’Brien?

Nope and nope. Edwards is in Europe.

Meanwhile, B.A. Santa­maria’s son Bob Santamaria— the head of legal affairs at Shayne ­Elliott’s ANZ — continues to oversee the bank’s sprawling legal operations.

There’s the one against Greg Medcraft’s ASIC here, the one against sacked senior trader ­Etienne Alexiou over there, and Pankaj Oswal and his “wifey” Radhika’s suit over there. The Cold War may be over, but it’s never been busier in the Santamaria clan.

Packer’s on a roll

You read it here first: David Gyngell’s former right hand man at Nine has signed on as a consultant with James Packer’sprivate company, Consolidated Press Holdings.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison. Picture: AAP Image/Dean Lewins.

Good get by Australia’s seventh-richest person.

So long as the paperwork all checks out, we understand Scott Briggs should be up on the government’s lobbyists register next week.

The Briggs signing looks to us like more proof that MalcolmTurnbull’s re-election is just about certain.

Briggs, of course, was a key political agent in Turnbull’s bloody Liberal preselection tilt against Peter King for the seat of Wentworth.

Briggs is also close to the Treasurer (and fellow Cronulla Sharks supporter) Scott Morrison.

Useful connections to complement Packer’s well connected ex-Labor brains trust Mark Arbib and Karl Bitar.

Expect to see Briggs making a beeline on the other side of July 2 to the office of Alan Tudge, the man likely to be in charge of sorting out the second Turnbull government’s response to Crown’s foreign-domiciled online gaming competitors.

With Briggs’ contract inked, what of the mooted addition of Sky News commentator Peta Credlin to team Packer in a policy role? It seems extraordinary. But the billionaire has surprised before.

The hard yards

Staying in the Crown orbit, now that James Packer and his Crown chair Rob Rankin’s Project Skycatcher is out in the open, advisers to the $10 billion demerger can bask in the glory of how their deal will affect M&A league tables.

UBS chief executive Matthew Grounds at a parliament inquiry last year. Picture: Britta Campion.

One of Packer’s closest business confidants had been UBS boss Matthew Grounds before they had what some have called a lover’s tiff last year. That was apparently resolved by Christmas, just in time for work on the demerger to ramp up.

But still it was left to UBS Melbourne MD and investment banking co-head Kelvin Barry to do most of the heavy lifting on Skycatcher. He’s been working virtually fulltime for Crown for most of this year.

Makes us wonder about the fee flow UBS might enjoy from the demerger alone (ignoring any potential REIT down the track).

A conventional fee could be $20 million. But then, maybe Grounds would do it for way less to stay on the billionaire’s right side?

Full house

And staying in the gaming orbit, boutique investment bank Greenhill Australia held its famous poker night at the Cell Block Theatre in Sydney’s old Darlinghurst jail last night.

Simon Mordant, the first owner of a piece of virtual reality art in Australia. Picture: James Croucher.

The all-you-can-eat Four’N Twenty meat pies affair was overseen by Greenhill local boss Roger Feletto. His former offsider Michelle Jablko sent her apologies. She’s recently joined Shayne Elliott’s ANZ, as you may have seen in a Paul Edwards Snapchap video.

Rumours that the afterparty would be held at Peter Wilson’s $5m renovated Woolloomooloo pad were incorrect. It is not clear if that was related to the Greenhill managing director’s still-to-be-finalised mosaic jacuzzi design. There’s always next year.

Moving to the jacuzzi fiend’s former boss Simon Mordant. Don and Mrs Don Mordant have been upgraded from the world’s top 200 to the top 100 art collectors in the 2016 artnet News Index. And if you haven’t already, drop by the Don’s Luminis Partners’ Sydney office to see why they are there.

Melrose gets busy

Now that pre-polling has begun, senator Nick Xenophon’s biggest financial fan, spectacle millionaire Ian Melrose, is cranking up his campaign towards minimising the conservative vote on July 2.

The businessman, who controversially donated $115,000 to Xenophon in the past financial year, is placing electronic and print ads with major media outlets across the country (bless him!). They push issues dear to his heart — the rights of East Timor (a passion the South Australian senator shares) and government procurement following a defence contract that Melrose lost in favour of a company domiciled in a tax haven.

“I didn’t grow up with money,” he told us. “I just worked my arse off and I just realised the big end of town is looking after the big end of town and sometimes that’s not a good thing.”

Melrose is hopeful that by the end of this week he will have gained broadcast approval from the Harold Mitchell-chaired Free TV Australia for two more ads that will run ahead of the election.

Stay tuned.

Day of reckoning

Busy day today for the Jacenko-Curtises of North Bondi, as hubby Oliver heads to the NSW Supreme Court for sentencing after being found guilty of insider trading, while wife Roxy preaches to 750-odd disciples on the ins and outs of social media.

Oliver Curtis and wife Roxy Jacenko. Picture: John Grainger.

If Curtis, son of Mac banker turned resources millionaire Nick Curtis, ends up behind bars, there will be at least four hands close by for the entrepreneurial Jacenko to call on for help — namely her two small Insta-kids.

It’s an all-star cast in Jacenko’s boutique Bondi building of six apartments, starting at the top with Wolverine Hugh Jackman and his activist wife Deborra-Lee Furness.

Moving down there’s financier TimOdillo Maher and his partner Victoria Montano, who are soon to move to the Darling Point home they bought from fund managers Ellie and Charlie Aitken.

And just across the way from Roxy and Oli’s $3500-a-week apartment, we discover, is Roxy’s mum Doreen Jacenko, the former wife of millionaire rag trader Nick Jacenko, who was recently stepping out with failed designer Lisa Ho.

The estranged Jacenkos still share ownership of a range of industrial properties in Sydney, as well as co-directorships of business interests.

Nick Jacenko had previously been a joint shareholder in Roxy’s Ministry of Talent agency for Instagramers but is no longer on the register, with just mother and daughter now listed as investors.

Sixty-something Doreen works in her daughter’s Double Bay PR shop. She’s likely to be along at the Shangri-La hotel this morning to welcome guests who’ve paid $200-plus a pop to hear Roxy’s pearls of business wisdom.

We just wonder if she’ll make it to court as well.